Has anyone out these been treated at U Of M hospital? I’m wanting to look at some bigger hospitals for treatment options, but for financial reasons need to look at places where I have family close by (and that my insurance will cover). Ann Arbor is one of those. Does anyone have experience there they can share?

My family lives in Pickney, MIchigan and my mother was recently DX with colon cancer and will be having her surgery at U of M hospital. My sister is an oncology nurse at U of M hospital and says nothing but good things about them. My mother's surgery will take place on April 1st. I would have to check with my sister to get the surgeons name that will be preforming it. From what I've observed with my mothers DX workup, visits and from what my sister tells me working there, I would say they are a very good hospital and I would feel comfortable getting treated there.

Like Deb m I also live in Pinckney but I used to work for PD/Pfizer in Ann Arbor. My wife was only in a Clinical trial there but they took great care of her while it lasted. Enormous amounts of clinical surveillance during a clinical trial there. We used St Joes for her primary care and standard treatment until those options ran out and we needed to look for clinical trials. My wife's oncologist at St Joes has a good friend at UoM he consults with you might say. They went to school together. I have a friend that got a second opinion from an expert in SCLC there. One of my former colleagues from my Big Pharma days was working in their Clinical Pharmacy for a while and told me about how well it appeared one trial against GBM was doing (No name of drug or its company but it sounded really promising). And another former colleague recently started work as an oncology clinical trial coordinator having transferred from Karmanos. They are an NCI Oncology center but not nearly as big as MSKCC or MD Anderson. I don't think you can go wrong being treated there. But being a teaching hospital it is crazy busy!

I’ve seen doctors at UofM for years and now at the cancer center. I think it’s okay, but not great. Like anywhere your experience will vary by doctor. The UM medical system is quite disfunctional when it comes to administration (like most hospitals). It can take forever to get things scheduled. One thing that is really annoying is that their chemo pharmacy is at capacity, so you often wait hours for your chemo to show up. As with any facility I suggest being very on top of your own care, otherwise things will get missed.

I was treated at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. I have been very pleased with the treatment and coordination I received. Very happy with my surgeon. I went to Henry Ford as a second opinion as my treatment was to be the same at both hospitals. I was just more comfortable with the team at Henry Ford and it was a bigger hospital than Providence which is where the surgeon I was originally recommended to see practiced. I did go to the University of Michigan Bowel Control Clinic after finishing treatment and dealing with bowel issues after my ileostomy reversal due to removal of most of my rectum. They were awesome and provided me with many solutions to my issues. I am not sure about their oncology dept. I did consider consulting U of M when diagnosed but was very comfortable with Henry Ford. I did have to have my surgery downtown Detroit but was able to have chemotherapy and one of their centers that were closer to my home, as well as follow up visits.